Every day is media day for Sherman's high school coach

Jan. 30, 2014

Updated 7:27 p.m.

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Keith Donerson, head football coach at Dominguez High School, stands in the team meeting room on Wednesday. Donerson coached Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman at Dominguez before he graduated in 2005. He says he's been deluged with media attention about his former player in the past 10 days. JOSH MORGAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Willie Donerson, assistant football coach at Dominguez High School, co-coached Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman with his son, Keith, at Dominguez before he graduated in 2005. JOSH MORGAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Cornerback Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks looks on before the 2014 NFC Championship against the San Francisco 49ers in Seattle on Jan. 19. JONATHAN FERREY, GETTY IMAGES

Keith Donerson, head football coach at Dominguez High School, stands in the team meeting room on Wednesday. Donerson coached Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman at Dominguez before he graduated in 2005. He says he's been deluged with media attention about his former player in the past 10 days. JOSH MORGAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

COMPTON – This Wednesday afternoon, after his 18th media interview in 10 days, Keith Donerson sat in front of a computer and cracked up at a video he found on the Internet.

A 61-second clip on FoxSports.com, it featured children re-enacting the now-infamous post-NFC Championship Game interview that has helped propel Richard Sherman into the national spotlight. As Donerson, Sherman’s football coach at Dominguez High School, watched kid after kid proclaim him or herself the best cornerback in the NFL and call out Michael Crabtree, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“This is crazy,” Willie Donerson, Keith’s father and the former Dominguez coach, said while leaning over the desk to see the video. “I can’t believe it’s gotten this big.”

For those involved with Dominguez football or its former star, life has been a bit different these last two weeks. Sherman’s game-clinching play and ensuing nationally televised rant has brought reporters and cameramen from all over the country to this east-Compton high school on South San Jose Avenue.

They want to learn about Sherman’s past; his path from Compton to Stanford to the Seattle Seahawks’ star cornerback. They come to hear from those who knew Sherman before he became the predominant pre-game storyline of Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

“It was surprising,” Keith, 47, said of his former player's post-game interview. “I always say Richard has a method to his madness. But I don’t think he could’ve planned that.”

As far as the actual game-saving play against the San Francisco 49ers, the deflection of Colin Kaepernick’s pass intended for Crabtree, Keith said, “That play was an unbelievable play. Everybody asks me the question and my response is I feel sorry for (Seahawks linebacker) Marcus Smith. He’s the one who actually got the interception.”

Sherman, 25, was one of the stars of the Dominguez team that won a CIF title in 2005. A wide receiver and cornerback, Sherman’s talents were always apparent. Though the Dons utilize the run-based, wing-T offense, he managed to catch 48 passes and 18 touchdowns during that championship season.

“He’s a signature of our program,” Keith said.

Dominguez’s football program and Sherman, whose family at a time resided in North Long Beach, have certainly garnered publicity in the past. But since the NFC Championship, the media has come out to Dominguez in droves.

As of Wednesday at about 2 p.m., Keith had done 18 interviews – yes, he counts – with reporters from the New York Times and the New York Daily News to those from local ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX affiliates. He even phoned in to a television station in Washington D.C. and a radio station in Florida.

Willie, 70, the former Dominguez coach and the co-head coach when Sherman played for the Dons from 2002-05, said he has done only a couple interviews, directing most of the requests toward his son.

There has been so much media interest that Ron Suazo, Compton Unified School District's communications coordinator, has spent almost every day over the last two weeks at Dominguez. ESPN even came out one day for a piece that Suazo said will air this weekend.

“It’s been hectic,” Keith said. “But I’m blessed to be in the situation to be able to do it. I appreciate it.”

In one interview, with the NFL Network's "NFL AM," Keith was asked if he had anything he would like to say to Sherman. “Richard, be Richard,” he responded, prompting a nice thank-you text from the former player.

“It’s not hard to talk about Richard,” Keith said with a smile.

Aside from Sherman, Dominguez’ 2005 championship squad featured seven others seniors who signed on to play at Division I college programs. The only other to make the NFL was Jeron Johnson, a safety and Boise State product, who is actually also with the Seahawks, on injured reserve.

A 4.2 GPA student and the first Dominguez athlete to attend Stanford, Sherman helped motivate his high school teammates academically, Keith said.

“He made a comment when somebody dropped a pass or something like that, ‘That’s why you’re going to go to Compton College. You’re not going to qualify. You haven’t even taken the SATs yet,’ ” Keith said. “He would make comments like that and then all of a sudden I get a knock on my door. 'Coach, what do I have to do to go to college?' ”

Keith’s favorite story involving Sherman stems from a visit after the 2011 football season, Sherman’s first in the NFL. Typically, Keith said, it takes a lot to catch his players’ attention. But when Sherman gathered the 50 high schoolers in the team’s weight room, “you could hear a pin drop,” Keith said.

“He basically asked everyone in the room, ‘How many guys want to go to the NFL.’ About 40 or 45 guys raised their hands. Then he asked, ‘How long is an NFL career on average? Some guys raised their hands (and said), ‘Seven years, 10 years, five years.’ He stopped everybody and he said, ‘No. It’s three and a half years.’ ”

The speech helped change the players’ mindsets, Keith said.

“The emphasis went off of football and went on to, ‘How to prepare myself for life,’ ” the coach said.

Added Uriah Leiataua, a current Dominguez senior defensive end who is expected to sign with Stanford during Wednesday’s national signing day, “What Richard has done lays the trail for a lot of us.”

When it comes to Sunday's big game, the Donersons insist they don’t have any special plans. Just as they did for the Seahawks’ win over the 49ers, they will likely watch with other family members at Willie’s home in Chino.

“I just hope (Sherman) has a great game,” Keith said. “That’s what I’m just praying for, that he has a great game. Win or lose, he’s going to be Richard.”

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